Analog delay elements

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods provide analog delay elements, which may be utilized in isolation or in a cascade. For example, a delay element may include a broadband amplifier and a passive, programmable filter, which may provide a desired magnitude and group delay response over a wide frequency range while being tolerant of process variations.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to electrical circuits and, moreparticularly, to analog delay elements.

BACKGROUND

Delay elements are well known and employed in a variety of circuitapplications. For example, a circuit known as a Gm-C (transconductanceor transconductance-capacitance) filter may be utilized as a delayelement. However, one drawback of the Gm-C filter is that its operationis generally limited in speed (e.g., less than 900 MHz) and, therefore,has limited applicability to high-bandwidth multi-gigahertz systems.

Another example of a delay element is a transmission line. However,transmission line based delay elements may have a number of drawbacks,such as area inefficiency, dependence on accurate electromagneticmodeling, and significant power consumption. As a result, there is aneed for improved delay element techniques.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods are disclosed herein to provide delay elements. Forexample, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, adelay element is disclosed that may be utilized in isolation or in acascade. The delay element may include a broadband amplifier and apassive, programmable filter. Furthermore, the delay element may providean approximately flat magnitude and group delay response over a widefrequency range while being tolerant of process variations.

More specifically, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention, a delay element includes an amplifier adapted to receiveinput signals and a filter coupled to the amplifier and adapted toprovide a variable delay. The filter includes a first inductor having afirst terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal coupled to afirst output terminal of the amplifier and the second terminal providinga first output signal of the delay element; a second inductor having athird terminal and a fourth terminal, the third terminal coupled to asecond output terminal of the amplifier and the fourth terminalproviding a second output signal of the delay element; at least a firstcapacitor coupled between the first output terminal of the amplifier andthe fourth terminal of the second inductor, wherein a capacitance of theat least first capacitor is variable; and at least a second capacitorcoupled between the second output terminal of the amplifier and thesecond terminal of the first inductor, wherein a capacitance of the atleast second capacitor is variable.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, anequalizer includes a feedforward filter adapted to receive a first inputsignal and provide a first output signal, wherein the feedforward filtercomprises at least one delay element having a variable delay; anadaptive coefficient generator adapted to receive the first input signaland a second signal and provide tap coefficients to the feedforwardfilter; a slicer adapted to receive a slicer input signal and provide aslicer output signal; a slicer timing alignment block adapted to receivethe slicer input signal and provide a second output signal, wherein theslicer output signal is subtracted from the second output signal togenerate an error signal; a tap timing alignment block adapted toreceive the slicer output signal and provide a third output signal; anda first low pass filter adapted to receive the third output signal andthe error signal and provide a fourth output signal, wherein the fourthoutput signal is multiplied with the third output signal to provide afeedback signal which is added to the first output signal to generatethe slicer input signal.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a methodof providing a variable signal delay includes receiving an input signal;amplifying the input signal to provide an amplified output signal;passing the amplified output signal through a filter having inductorsand cross-coupled capacitors whose capacitance is variable; andproviding an output signal across load capacitors of the filter whosecapacitance is variable to provide a desired signal delay.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a methodof providing a signal delay includes providing an amplifier adapted toamplify input signals and provide amplified output signals; andproviding a filter adapted to filter the amplified output signals, thefilter having cross-coupled capacitors and load capacitors whosecapacitance is variable to provide a selectable signal delay.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a delayelement includes an amplifier adapted to receive input signals andprovide a first signal and a second signal; a first and a secondinductor in series, wherein the first inductor receives the first signalat a first terminal and the second inductor provides a first outputsignal at a second terminal; a first capacitor coupled between the firstand second inductor and a reference terminal; a third and a fourthinductor in series, wherein the third inductor receives the secondsignal at a third terminal and the fourth inductor provides a secondoutput signal at a fourth terminal; a second capacitor coupled betweenthe third and fourth inductor and the reference terminal; a thirdcapacitor coupled to the first terminal and the fourth terminal; afourth capacitor coupled to the third terminal and the second terminal;a fifth capacitor coupled to the second terminal and the referenceterminal; and a sixth capacitor coupled to the fourth terminal and thereference terminal.

The scope of the invention is defined by the claims, which areincorporated into this section by reference. A more completeunderstanding of embodiments of the present invention will be affordedto those skilled in the art, as well as a realization of additionaladvantages thereof, by a consideration of the following detaileddescription of one or more embodiments. Reference will be made to theappended sheets of drawings that will first be described briefly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a circuit diagram illustrating a delay element inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a circuit diagram illustrating a delay element inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary application for one or more delay elements inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary implementation of a portion of the applicationof FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary application for one or more delay elements inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a circuit diagram illustrating a delay element inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Embodiments of the present invention and their advantages are bestunderstood by referring to the detailed description that follows. Itshould be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identifylike elements illustrated in one or more of the figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a circuit diagram illustrating a delay element 100 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Delay element100 includes an amplifier 102 and a filter 104. Amplifier 102 is abroadband differential amplifier having resistors 110 and 112 (eachlabeled R), transistors 114 and 116, and a current source 118. Amplifier102 receives input signals via input terminals (in+, in−) 106 and 108and provides output signals via filter 104 at output terminals (out+,out−) 148 and 150.

Filter 104 is a passive inductor-capacitor (LC) filter having inductors126 and 144, capacitors 120, 122, 128, 130, 136, 138, 142, and 144, andswitches 124, 132, 140, and 146. Capacitors 120 and 122 and capacitors128 and 130 provide cross-coupled switchable capacitors, with capacitors122 and 130 selectively enabled by closing corresponding switches 124and 132 (e.g., transistors). Thus, capacitors 120 and 128 are fixedcross-coupled capacitors, while capacitors 122 and 130 are switchablecross-coupled capacitors.

Capacitors 122 and 130 may be selectively included, for example, tocompensate for semiconductor processing (process) variations. It shouldbe understood that the number of switchable cross-coupled capacitors(i.e., capacitors 122 and 130) may vary, depending upon the desiredapplication and expected process variations (e.g., provide designrobustness across process variations). For example, additionalswitchable cross-coupled capacitors, in addition to and in paralleland/or in series with capacitor 122 and capacitor 130 may be included toprovide additional selectable capacitance or provide smaller selectablecapacitance value increments. In general, capacitors 120, 122, 128, and130 provide one or more right-half plane zeros, which may increasebandwidth and provide a desired delay.

Capacitors 136 and 138 and capacitors 142 and 144 provide switchableload capacitors, with capacitors 138 and 144 selectively enabled byclosing corresponding switches 140 and 146. Thus, capacitors 136 and 142are fixed load capacitors, while capacitors 138 and 144 are switchableload capacitors to provide programmability of delay element 100.

Delay element 100 may be utilized as a programmable delay element, forexample, by selectively enabling the load capacitors. This may be animportant feature for delay elements employed, for example, withinrate-agile analog continuous time equalizers, which are discussedfurther herein. As an example, the switchable load capacitors may beselected so that the delay element provides a delay that is a fixedfraction (e.g., <1) of a symbol period across different data rates.

It should be understood that the number of switchable load capacitors(i.e., capacitors 138 and 144) may vary, depending upon the desiredapplication and expected process variations. For example, additionalswitchable load capacitors, in addition to and in parallel withcapacitor 138 or capacitor 144 may be included to provide additionalselectable capacitance or provide smaller selectable capacitance valueincrements.

FIG. 2 shows a circuit diagram illustrating a delay element 200 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Delay element200 is similar to delay element 100 and may be viewed as an exemplaryimplementation of delay element 100 and, therefore, the description ofsimilar features will not be repeated.

Delay element 200 includes cross-coupled capacitors 202 and 206 (eachlabeled C_(x)), which may represent capacitors 120 and 122 andcapacitors 128 and 130, respectively, and load capacitors 214 and 216(each labeled C_(L)), which may represent capacitors 136 and 138 andcapacitors 142 and 144, respectively. Capacitors 214 and 216 may alsorepresent capacitance associated with the following stage (e.g., if in acascaded configuration with other delay elements), inductor parasiticcapacitance associated with inductors 126 and 144, and metal routingcapacitance.

Capacitors 208 and 210 (each labeled C_(s)) represent capacitanceassociated at a terminal (e.g., a drain terminal) of correspondingtransistors 114 and 116 of amplifier 102 and may include amplifier draincapacitance, inductor parasitic capacitance, and metal routingcapacitance. Resistors 204 and 212 (each labeled R_(ind)) represent aresistance associated with corresponding inductors 126 and 134 (eachlabeled L).

An exemplary transfer function (H_(norm)(S)) of delay element 200 isshown below, with the transfer function normalized to a direct current(DC) gain.

$\begin{matrix}{{H_{norm}(s)} = {\frac{{{out}_{+}(s)} - {{out}_{-}(s)}}{{i\;{n_{+}(s)}} - {i\;{n_{-}(s)}}} = \frac{1 + {a_{1}s} + {a_{2}s^{2}}}{1 + {b_{1}s} + {b_{2}s^{2}} + {b_{3}s^{3}}}}} \\{{a_{1} = {{- R_{ind}}C_{x}}},\;{a_{2} = {- {LC}_{x}}}} \\{{b_{1} = {{2{R\left( {{2C_{x}} + C_{s} + C_{L}} \right)}} + {R_{ind}\left( {C_{x} + {2C_{L}}} \right)}}},} \\{{b_{2} = {{L\left( {C_{x} + {2C_{L}}} \right)} + {{RR}_{ind}\left( {{C_{x}C_{L}} + {C_{x}C_{s}} + {2C_{s}C_{L}}} \right)}}},} \\{b_{3} = {2{{LR}\left( {{C_{x}C_{L}} + {C_{x}C_{s}} + {2C_{s}C_{L}}} \right)}}}\end{matrix}$

Delay element 100 (or delay element 200) may be implemented as aprocess-insensitive, wide-bandwidth (e.g., multi-gigahertz or broadband)analog delay element. By utilizing a high-speed broadband amplifierfollowed by a passive filter, for example, the fully-differentialcircuit may reject any input common-mode signals and may provide aconstant group delay for a differential input signal. Furthermore, theswitchable (cross-coupled and load) capacitor structure may function toprovide an optimally flat magnitude and group delay response across adesired frequency range (e.g., provide pulse fidelity) despite processvariations.

For broadband circuits, a delay element should have a constant groupdelay and magnitude response over a desired frequency band of an inputsignal to maintain optimal pulse fidelity. A number of delay elements100, for example, may be employed as quasi-distributed circuit elementswhich utilize complex, left-half plane poles and right-half plane zerosto provide greater delay and wider bandwidth. Delay element 100 providesprogrammability (i.e., programmable delay element) via selectablecross-coupled capacitors and load capacitors.

Delay element 100 may be utilized, for example, within analogcontinuous-time filters or to provide the desired delay elementstructures for rate-agile, multi-gigahertz, continuous-time equalizers.As an exemplary implementation for one or more delay elements (e.g.,delay elements 100 and/or 200), FIG. 3 illustrates a continuous-timeleast mean square (LMS) based adaptive equalizer 300. LMS-basedequalizer 300 includes a feedforward filter 302, an adaptive coefficientgenerator 304, an output signal slicer 306, a slicer input time-aligncircuit 308, and a slicer output time-align circuit 310. Feedforwardfilter 302 receives an input data signal s(t) and tap coefficients fromadaptive coefficient generator 304 and generates an equalized signal,which is input to an adder 312. The other input to adder 312 is theproduct 314 of the output of an integrator, such as a low pass filterblock 316, and slicer output time-align circuit 310. Low pass filterblock 316, for example, may represent a multiplier followed by a lowpass filter.

The feedback signal (from product 314) into adder 312 provides aniterative correction to an error signal e(t) used by adaptivecoefficient generator 304 to generate adaptive tap coefficients. Theerror signal, processed through adder 318, is the difference between theoutputs of slice input time-align circuit 308 and slicer 306, x(t−Δ) andy(t), respectively. As time passes, the error signal converges until asufficiently small error signal is obtained through adaptively changingthe tap coefficients.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary implementation of a feedforward filtersuitable for use as feedforward filter 302 of FIG. 1. The feedforwardfilter includes a series of signal delay elements 402-1 to 402-N. Eachdelay element 402 delays the incoming signal by a fixed amount τ, e.g.,s(t−τ), s(t−2τ), . . . s(t−Nτ). The delay τ is typically selected to beless than a symbol period, and in one embodiment, about half a symbolperiod to achieve good performance at low SNR.

The input data signal s(t) and each successive delayed signal from delayelements 402-1 to 402-N are multiplied by corresponding multipliers404-1 to 404-N with its respective adaptive coefficient signals fromadaptive coefficient generator 304. The product signals are then summedby an adder circuit 406 to form the equalized signal. Further detailsmay be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/614,587, entitled“Channel Monitoring and Identification and Performance Monitoring in aFlexible High Speed Signal Processor Engine” and filed Jul. 3, 2003,which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Delay element 100 (or delay element 200), in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention, may represent an exemplary circuitimplementation for each delay element 402 (e.g., delay element 402-1) ofFIG. 4. Furthermore, delay element 100 may be employed as one or more ofthe delay elements which may be desired, for example, in circuitimplementations for adaptive coefficient generator 304 and slicer inputtime-align circuit 308 (which are described in further detail in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/614,587).

FIG. 5 illustrates another exemplary implementation of delay elements(e.g., delay elements 100 and/or 200) within an equalizer 500. Equalizer500 is similar to equalizer 300 and therefore, the general descriptionwill not be repeated. As shown, delay elements 100 may be implemented invarious functional blocks of equalizer 500, such as for example infeedforward filter 302 and adaptive coefficient generator 304 (i.e.,delay element 100 inserted for each T or I circuit element shown in FIG.5).

Equalizer 500 may be employed as a fractionally-spaced linear equalizerwith decision feedback to provide a continuous-time adaptation for acommunication channel or a network. The error signal may be filtered bya low pass filter 502 to provide an output signal that indicates a meansquare error of the error signal e(t). A register block 504 may beutilized to store the tap coefficients from adaptive coefficientgenerator 304 and also store various other tap coefficient values, theoutput signal from low pass filter 502 (i.e., the mean square error ofthe error signal e(t)), and/or other desired information. Theinformation stored by register block 504 may, for example, be utilizedby a processor (e.g., a microprocessor, microcontroller, or other typeof logic device) to monitor a communication channel and determine itsperformance (as described in further detail in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/614,587).

FIG. 6 shows a circuit diagram illustrating a delay element 600 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Delay element600 is similar to delay elements 100 and 200 and therefore, thediscussion for similar circuit elements will not be repeated. Delayelement 600 may be utilized instead of delay element 100, for example,to provide a longer delay while providing approximately the samebandwidth.

Delay element 600 includes amplifier 102 and a filter 626 havinginductors 602 through 608, resistors 610 through 616, and capacitors202, 206, and 618 through 624. Resistors 610 through 616 represent aresistance associated with inductors 602 through 608, respectively.Capacitors 618 through 624 independently may be fixed or have a variablecapacitance. For example, capacitor 618, 620, 622, and 624 may eachrepresent a fixed capacitor in parallel with one or more selectivelyenabled capacitors (such as illustrated by capacitors 120 and 122 ofFIG. 1).

In general, delay element 600 is similar to delay elements 100 and 200and may be employed and implemented in a similar fashion as describedherein for delay elements 100 and 200. For example, delay element 600may be implemented as a process-insensitive, wide-bandwidth analog delayelement (e.g., delay element 600 may be implemented within equalizers300 or 500 in a similar fashion as described for delay elements 100 and200).

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention,systems and methods are disclosed for providing wide-bandwidth(broadband), analog delay elements. A delay element using the techniquesdisclosed herein may maintain an optimally-flat magnitude and groupdelay response over process variations. A delay element may be used inisolation or as part of a cascade of delay elements, such as for examplefor a portion of a tunable, analog front-end filter/equalizer.

A delay element may provide a more efficient use of area by providingquasi-distributed structures (e.g., lumped LC circuits) as opposed tofully-distributed conventional designs (e.g., transmission line baseddelay elements). Furthermore, a delay element may consume less powerthan some conventional delay elements due to the delay element utilizingan amplifier only as an active core followed by a passive filter.

Embodiments described above illustrate but do not limit the invention.It should also be understood that numerous modifications and variationsare possible in accordance with the principles of the present invention.Accordingly, the scope of the invention is defined only by the followingclaims.

1. A delay element comprising: an amplifier adapted to receive inputsignals; a filter coupled to the amplifier and adapted to provide avariable delay, wherein the filter comprises: a first inductor having afirst terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal coupled to afirst output terminal of the amplifier and the second terminal providinga first output signal of the delay element; a second inductor having athird terminal and a fourth terminal, the third terminal coupled to asecond output terminal of the amplifier and the fourth terminalproviding a second output signal of the delay element; at least a firstcapacitor coupled between the first output terminal of the amplifier andthe fourth terminal of the second inductor, wherein a capacitance of theat least first capacitor is variable; and at least a second capacitorcoupled between the second output terminal of the amplifier and thesecond terminal of the first inductor, wherein a capacitance of the atleast second capacitor is variable.
 2. The delay element of claim 1,wherein the filter further comprises: at least a third capacitor coupledbetween the fourth terminal of the second inductor and a referenceterminal, wherein a capacitance of the at least third capacitor isvariable; and at least a fourth capacitor coupled between the secondterminal of the first inductor and the reference terminal, wherein acapacitance of the at least fourth capacitor is variable.
 3. The delayelement of claim 2, wherein the reference terminal is at a groundvoltage potential.
 4. The delay element of claim 2, wherein theamplifier is a differential amplifier comprising: a pair of transistors;a pair of resistors coupled between a supply voltage and correspondingones of the transistors; and a current source coupled between the pairof transistors and the reference terminal.
 5. The delay element of claim2, wherein the at least first and second capacitors each comprises: afirst fixed capacitor; at least one selectable fifth capacitor coupledin parallel with the first fixed capacitor; and a first transistor inseries with each selectable fifth capacitor and adapted to be controlledto determine whether the associated selectable fifth capacitor isenabled.
 6. The delay element of claim 5, wherein the at least third andfourth capacitors each comprises: a second fixed capacitor; at least oneselectable sixth capacitor coupled in parallel with the second fixedcapacitor; and a second transistor in series with each selectable sixthcapacitor and adapted to be controlled to determine whether theassociated selectable sixth capacitor is enabled.
 7. The delay elementof claim 2, wherein the delay element is programmable for the variabledelay and to account for semiconductor processing variations.
 8. Thedelay element of claim 2, wherein the filter is an allpass filter andthe delay element is adapted to provide an approximately flat magnitudeand group delay response across a frequency range.
 9. The delay elementof claim 1, wherein the amplifier is a differential amplifier.
 10. Amethod of providing a variable signal delay, the method comprising:receiving an input signal; amplifying the input signal to provide anamplified output signal; passing the amplified output signal through afilter having inductors and cross-coupled capacitors whose capacitanceis variable; and providing an output signal across load capacitors ofthe filter whose capacitance is variable to provide a desired signaldelay.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the capacitance of thecross-coupled capacitors is variable to account for semiconductorprocessing variations.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the filter isan allpass filter adapted to provide an approximately constant groupdelay and magnitude response over a frequency range.
 13. A method ofproviding a signal delay, the method comprising: providing an amplifieradapted to amplify input signals and provide amplified output signals;and providing a filter adapted to filter the amplified output signals,the filter having cross-coupled capacitors and load capacitors whosecapacitance is variable to provide a selectable signal delay.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the capacitance of the cross-coupledcapacitors is variable to account for semiconductor processingvariations.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein the filter is an allpassfilter adapted to provide an approximately flat magnitude and groupdelay response across a frequency range.
 16. A delay element comprising:an amplifier adapted to receive input signals and provide a first signaland a second signal; a first and a second inductor in series, whereinthe first inductor receives the first signal at a first terminal and thesecond inductor provides a first output signal at a second terminal; afirst capacitor coupled between the first and second inductor and areference terminal; a third and a fourth inductor in series, wherein thethird inductor receives the second signal at a third terminal and thefourth inductor provides a second output signal at a fourth terminal; asecond capacitor coupled between the third and fourth inductor and thereference terminal; a third capacitor coupled to the first terminal andthe fourth terminal; a fourth capacitor coupled to the third terminaland the second terminal; a fifth capacitor coupled to the secondterminal and the reference terminal; and a sixth capacitor coupled tothe fourth terminal and the reference terminal.
 17. The delay element ofclaim 16, wherein the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth capacitor areadapted to have a variable capacitance.
 18. The delay element of claim16, wherein the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth capacitor each comprisesa fixed capacitor in parallel with a selectively enabled capacitor.